In a case where data created in an information processing apparatus such as a personal computer is printed, the information processing apparatus sends the data to a printer such as an image forming apparatus and requests the printer to print the data. In this case, the information processing apparatus converts the data into a data format that can be received by the printer before sending the data. For this purpose, a printer driver for converting the data as above needs to be installed in the information processing apparatus.
It is necessary that a printer driver that supports the model of the printer be installed in the information processing apparatus. On this account, conventionally, in a case where an information processing apparatus requests printers of different models to print data, printer drivers that support the respective printers must be installed in the information processing apparatus.
In recent years, a so-called universal printer driver that can support a plurality of printers has been increasingly used as a printer driver. For example, the universal printer driver disclosed in Patent Literature 1 is known.
Specifically, according to the universal printer driver disclosed in Patent Literature 1, when a user sets printing preferences, a search is conducted so that printers connected to a network to which a personal computer having the universal printer driver is connected are extracted. Thus, the user can select any one of the printers thus extracted.